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New York To Ban Texting, Gaming While Driving

This falls under the "Common Sense" category but sadly, we often need laws to remind us that we actually have common sense.

Nobody likes the distracted driver and when there are as many vehicles on the road as there are in New York, the appropriate steps must be taken to protect people from...well, from idiots. According to Game Politics citing Buffalo Business First, the New York State Senate has "overwhelmingly" passed a bill that "bans texting, playing video games or surfing the Internet while driving." Here in Connecticut, it's illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving (unless you have a hands-free headset, as if the distraction is caused by your hands and not your mind when locked in a conversation 'rolling eyes'). Anyway, this new measure has already been approved by the New York Assembly and now, all it needs is Gov. David Paterson to sign it into law. Newsday quoted Sen. Martin Dilan (D) on the topic:

"This is a long-overdue safety measure for New York. Texting and burgeoning [portable electronic] technologies continue to pose serious, and sometimes fatal, distractions to drivers of all ages."

Well, duh. If you're caught in violation of this law, you will be slapped with a $150 fine, but the good news is that this ban is considered a secondary offense, which means the police officer can only enforce it if you're pulled over for something else. Honestly, if you're driving down the road playing a game on your PSP, you should just be flat-out arrested. Not so much for endangering everyone around you, but more just 'cuz you're stupid.